Waffle House Killer Wants Death Penalty

Man Who Murdered Two Refuses To Put Up Defense

The man convicted of murdering two people inside a tiny freezer at a Waffle House in Davie told a Broward Circuit Court judge Thursday morning he wants to die.

Last month, a jury found Gerhard "Chip" Hojan, 28, guilty on nine counts, including first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery, for the March 2002 crime. Waitress Christina De La Rosa, 17, and cook Willy Absolu, 29, were shot dead. Another waitress, Barbara Nunn, was shot in the head but survived to identify Hojan in court.

On Nov. 24, a hearing will begin to produce a jury recommendation as to whether Hojan should be executed or sentenced to life in prison. Generally in these penalty phases, the defense presents evidence to try to convince jurors to spare a murderer's life; the prosecution argues to end it.

After Thursday's hearing, the penalty phase in Hojan's case promises to be one-sided. If he is sentenced to death and the verdict is upheld through an automatic appeal, he will have another choice: electrocution or lethal injection.

Hojan's defense attorneys, Mitchell Polay and John Cotrone, told Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman their client essentially wants to "commit suicide." While prosecutors will paint Hojan as a villain deserving of death and victims' families will testify that their lives have been destroyed, Hojan wants his lawyers to sit silent.

The attorneys said they lined up witnesses to speak on his behalf. They would have argued that Hojan has no criminal record and is a good father to his two children.

"We're between a rock and a hard place," Polay said. "It's obviously against our better judgment. We want to save his life. We are being prohibited from doing so by Mr. Hojan."

When Backman asked Hojan, "Are you going to ask the jury to sentence you to death?" Hojan answered, "Yes."

Surrounded by friends and relatives, Hojan's parents sat in the back row, his mother wiping away tears.

"What's the matter with him?" Gerhard Hojan Sr. asked Polay when they left the courtroom for the lunch break. Polay shrugged in response.

"It's a travesty that two people have already died, and now he wants to die," Polay said later.

Hojan's death-by-court request is not uncommon. So-called death "volunteers" drop their fight at different times in the legal process.

Before she was sentenced to life in prison in 2002, Christine Sharrow repeatedly asked her attorneys to stop fighting and let her be executed. The Oakland Park woman pleaded guilty to killing her 18-month-old granddaughter and stuffing the body in a freezer.

And last year two inmates, serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who confessed to killing six men, and triple murderer Rigoberto SM-anchez Velasco, were put to death after dropping their appeals.

Some attorneys say that since lethal injection was introduced as an alternative to the electric chair, more clients say they want to die rather than linger on Death Row.

"Who wants to live in a room the size of your bathroom for the rest of your life?" said Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty in Tequesta. "Anybody facing life without parole might want to consider an alterative way to deal with it."

Referring to Hojan, Bonowitz said, "He's 28. If he lives to a natural death, he's got another 40 to 50 years possibly. Sounds to me like he's a smart guy to take the easy way out."

Also charged in the Waffle House murders was Hojan's roommate, Jimmy Mickel, 34. He is awaiting trial early next year.

On Thursday, Backman told Hojan he will urge him to change his mind about putting on a defense later this month. "I told you before, and I'll tell you again, I think it's a mistake," the judge said. "I cannot order you to do it, ... but I am going to bother you again and again."

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4557.